Middlesex Turnpike gas station catches fire

Wednesday

The removal of an underground storage tank at a Billerica gas station led to a fire Wednesday, Aug. 8 that burned for more than two hours before burning out.

"It was a tough fire to fight with the heat and the humidity," Billerica Deputy Fire Chief Tom Ferraro said.

The gas station, owned by Arlex Energy and located at 612 Middlesex Turnpike, caught fire at approximately 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning. When the first alarm fire brought around a dozen firefighters to the scene, where it was revealed that the inside of an oil tank had caught fire.

"What happened was the fiberglass insulation on the inside of the tank caught fire. It was assessed and we believed that the fire would just burn out; so while it smoldered inside and created a bit of smoke, it wasn't a danger to anyone or the surrounding area. The entire plaza remained open for business while it was burning out," Ferraro said.

Ferraro said that the fire was located behind the gas station and away from the pumps, in an underground storage area used to hold home heating oil. The facility was doing maintenance on the storage tank that likely contributed to the fire. Ferraro said that there were flames outside of the tank, but the fire was extinguished by employees before the fire department arrived.

"They did an excellent job responding to the fire," Ferraro said.

Ferraro said that the fire burned out around 10:30 a.m. and there were no injuries.